April 24, 2021

Toray Develop a Biochip Able to Test for Allergies from One Drop of Blood

This testing biochip imposes little physical burden on the subject, and is usable on infants as well as on general subjects

Toray has developed a testing biochip able to diagnose multiple allergy diseases, including asthma and food allergies, from a single drop of blood. The diffusion of a simple testing method would encourage early diagnosis, helping to prevent consequences such as anaphylactic shock, a severe allergic reaction.

The Toray biochip measures 2.5 x 7.5cm. There are multiple columnar structures, 0.1mm tall, on the surface, and substances are mounted on them that each react with different antibodies. Around 20 microliters of blood is collected from a minor needle puncture and dropped onto the chip, where the presence of multiple allergic conditions is detected with the same level of precision as conventional testing methods. Up to 100 allergy items can be identified at once.

Both Toray and Toshiba aim to take technologies related to diagnosis of disease by reacting substances on the a biochip surface with specific constituents of the blood, and develop them for cancer testing. Toray are also expanding this technology to allergy testing.